Young lynx caught in southern Thuringia

04.06.2025

Near Bockstadt in southern Thuringia, a conspicuous lynx was captured by the ‘Luchs Thüringen’ project team with excellent support from the local hunters and authorities and brought to the rescue centre in Worbis Bear Park to be nursed back to health.

The animal had been sighted regularly since the end of April, which is very unusual for this secretive species. It also appeared to be severely malnourished. On Tuesday evening, the lynx was anaesthetised using an anaesthetic gun and captured.

The male, which is around one year old, is now to be rehabilitated in Worbis and later released back into the wild. This is not an animal released into the wild as part of the project, but one of the young animals captured on camera in 2024 south of Masserberg, or a young lynx that migrated from Bavaria.
Young animals are susceptible to diseases and have a hard time when they have to leave their mother’s territory at the age of around one year to find their own territory.